Why Natural Medicine Was Pushed Out of Medical Education (and What to Do About It) | You Are the Medicine MembershipDr. Shalane Carter introduces a solo episode about the history of natural medicine and why it was pushed out of mainstream medical education and rebranded as “alternative medicine,” arguing that pharmaceuticals are the later, manmade alternative.

She explains her “You Are the Medicine” membership as a growing library of trainings on common issues (skin, digestion, sunburn, tinnitus, dandruff, and more) designed to help people make informed-consent health decisions, with a search feature planned. She outlines how herbalism, homeopathy, osteopathy, and chiropractic were common before the 1910 Flexner Report, and describes how funding and education, rather than efficacy, drove the shift toward laboratory-based biomedical science and pharmacology.

She discusses the role of Rockefeller’s early funding (Rockefeller Foundation and the Rockefeller Institute for Medical Research, 1901), the Carnegie Foundation’s commissioning of the Flexner Report (written by educator Abraham Flexner), and the resulting school closures (nearly half of U.S. and Canadian medical schools between 1910–1930), which she says disproportionately affected homeopathic and naturopathic schools.

She connects the rise of pharmaceuticals to the ability to patent synthetic or isolated compounds (often described as petroleum- or coal-tar–based derivatives combined with plant actives), contrasting this with unpatentable whole plants like oranges or milk thistle, and mentions Bayer as an early pioneer in synthetic drugs.She argues the new medical model became more reductionistic and symptom-focused, often ignoring whole-body systems and the way natural compounds exist with co-factors (using examples like apple peel fiber affecting sugar absorption and essential oils containing many trace molecules).

She contrasts suppressing symptoms with encouraging a full healing response (citing homeopathy’s view that completing the process builds immunity), and links rising chronic illness to overreliance on symptom suppression. She emphasizes integrative approaches, functional medicine, and nervous system regulation as foundational to immune function, stating the body isn’t “broken” and symptoms reflect internal conditions that need addressing.

Dr. Carter frames the current resurgence of natural modalities as necessary, positions Western/allopathic medicine as valuable primarily for emergencies, and explains that her membership is for parents, those harmed or dismissed by the medical system, and people seeking more sovereignty and preparedness. She describes the membership tiers (monthly option with foundational trainings, annual access to the full library, and an upgraded tier including one-on-one sessions with her featuring nervous system work), notes details will be in the show notes, and closes by encouraging listeners to subscribe and follow her on Instagram and TikTok at @Dr.ShalaneCarter.

Time Stamps:00:00 Welcome + Why This Episode Matters (and What She Just Created)00:55 Natural Medicine’s Roots: How It Became Labeled “Alternative”05:51 The Flexner Report Era: Standards, Schools, and the Big Shift10:27 Patents, Petroleum, and Profit: Why Pharma Won the Funding War16:05 From Whole Plants to “Active Ingredients”: Reductionism & Side Effects23:42 Symptoms vs Healing: Why Suppression Doesn’t Build Immunity26:57 The Resurgence + Introducing ‘You Are the Medicine’ Membership31:36 Membership Tiers, Upcoming Guests, and Final Sign-Off

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